Zoo News Digest is the longest established and most widely read listing of current 'zoo' related news on the internet. It notes 'real' events of interest to people working within the zoo industry. By a Zoo Professional for Zoo Professionals and other interested parties. The Digest includes comments and notification of courses and events.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Zoo News Digest 29th July 2011 (Zoo News 773)

Today is World Tiger Day....or is it? It got some attention on the 29th July 2010 but has scarcely raised a tigers whisker this year. It all gets a bit complicated when we also have 'International Tiger Day' at the end of September...and some call that World Tiger Day too. When all is said and done we really do need to constantly draw peoples attention to the plight of the tiger.

Just who is Rikki Rockett anyway? Never heard of her before. Don't care if I never hear of her again.

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Galloway wildlife park raises closure fears
The manager of a south of Scotland wildlife park has warned it needs urgent funding to avoid closure.
John Denerley said the Galloway Wildlife Conservation Park, near Kirkcudbright, could be forced to shut in a "couple of months".
He said the centre had suffered a "serious blow" to its finances during the economic downturn.
The Dumfries and Galloway site is home to several endangered species, rare mammals and birds.
The GWCP has been operating in the area for more than eight years.
However, Mr Denerley said that it was now struggling to meet annual running costs of more http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-14323592

Rosie the rhino's horn stolen from Ipswich Museum
Thieves have broken into Ipswich Museum and stolen the horn from a stuffed rhino on display.
Despite receiving warnings of gangs targeting museums and auction houses for rhino horn, the museum in the High Street was broken into on Thursday.
Two men, believed to have stolen the horn from Rosie the Rhino and another rhino skull, were seen leaving in a silver car at about 00:25 BST.
The museum service said it had been confident http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-14326670

Arctic scientist under investigation
A US Federal wildlife biologist whose observation that polar bears likely drowned in the Arctic helped galvanise the global warming movement seven years ago was placed on administrative leave as officials investigate scientific misconduct allegations.
Although it wasn't clear what the exact allegations are, a government watchdog group representing Anchorage-based scientist Charles Monnett said investigators have focused on his 2004 journal article about the bears that garnered worldwide attention.
The group, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, filed a complaint on Mr Monnett's behalf today with the agency, the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.
BOEMRE told Mr Monnett on July 18 that he was being put on leave, pending an investigation into "integrity issues".
The investigator has not yet told him of the specific charges or questions related to the scientific integrity of his work, said Jeff Ruch, the watchdog http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/arctic-scientist-under-investigation/story-fn3dxity-1226103960232

Lost interview: Charles Monnett describes how he discovered 'drowned polar bears'
In July 2007, I sat down with wildlife biologist Charles Monnett and a spokesperson for the then-Minerals Management Service, the federal regulator of offshore oil development. Monnett -- who is now in trouble with MMS' predecessor, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement --had led the team of federal scientists who had spotted apparently dead polar bears floating in the Arctic Ocean in fall 2004, the causalities, some would later argue, of a warming climate. Or perhaps just a brutal storm.
That revelation, which was published in a journal at the time, galvanized environmentalists, who had long been saying the Arctic was melting. There was no ice for the bears, and now it seemed they had to swim farther than ever before. That was the implication of Monnett's and his colleagues' work at MMS.
I wanted to interview the man who had made the polar bear an international symbol of global warming. But the federal agency he worked for, which at the time was defending Royal Dutch Shell's plans to drill for oil in Alaska's Arctic, was wary of me asking questions of their scientist. And Monnett himself was paranoid that he would get in trouble by talking to me. As is today, Royal Dutch Shell was facing environmental opposition to its drilling plans for the Arctic. MMS was caught in the middle. And the survival of the polar bear -- now listed as a threatened species -- was at the center of the debate. Monnett seemed to indicate that he was already on thin ice as a result of his research. Thus, an MMS spokeswoman was there to monitor my questioning of Monnett. That's how it seemed, at least.
Here are some selected transcripts from my July 2007 interview with Dr. Monnet:http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/lost-interview-charles-monnett-describes-how-he-discovered-drowned-polar-bears

Among necessary giants: why we can’t afford to lose the elephant
Cyril Christo and Marie Wilkinson, authors of Walking Thunder, explain why the survival of the elephant is critical for our own future
‘He piled upon the whale’s white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down,’ wrote Melville in Moby Dick. What percentage of Europe and America’s wealth has been drawn from the bodies of whales? What are we to make of a species – ours - supposedly sapient, supposedly sentient, that has destroyed hundreds of thousands of whales in the cause of lighting our cities, corsets and lubricating intercontinental ballistic missiles as the Russian did in the 1970s. That was surely the apex of our madness? Sadly it wasn’t.
In the 1980s, over 600,000 elephants - more than half the http://www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/out_and_about/994574/among_necessary_giants_why_we_cant_afford_to_lose_the_elephant.html

Wild elephants attack Nepal refugee camp; 2 dead
Wild elephants have attacked a refugee camp in southeastern Nepal, killing two elderly men and damaging several huts.
Gehanath Bhandari, the chief government administrator in Jhapa district, says two elephants entered the U.N.-run camp for Bhutanese refugees Wednesday morning and trampled the two victims. There were no other casualties.
Floods during monsoon season usually drive the elephants from neighboring India into Nepal, where they destroy farms and occasionally attack humans.
Bhandari says some of the refugees were chasing the elephants away from corn http://english.irib.ir/subcontinent/news/top-stories/item/79768-wild-elephants-attack-nepal-refugee-camp-2-dead

Crocodile caught in Siberian lake
A rescue team in the Russian republic of Khakassia said they caught a 6 1/2-foot crocodile spotted floating in a lake.
Yury Stolbun, head of the rescue group, said Wednesday a tour group in a catamaran spotted the crocodile floating in the water and initially thought it was a log, RIA Novosti reported Wednesday.
"Suddenly the log started blinking and paddling with its legs," Stolbun said.
Stolbun said the croc belongs to a man who offers tourists the chance to be photographed with the reptile.
"Something distracted the owner http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2011/07/27/Crocodile-caught-in-Siberian-lake/UPI-69821311781853/

L.A. is one step closer to privatizing zoo
A proposal to potentially turn over management of the Los Angeles Zoo to a private operator was approved by a Los Angeles City Council committee Thursday. If the plan gets the OK of the full council next month, the city could begin soliciting proposals from prospective operators by the end of this year.
Council members also made a new request: that city analysts develop an alternative to privatization to see whether there are changes that can be made to save money and keep the zoo under city management.
That move was cheered by some zoo workers, who are wary of privatization because they might be transferred to other city departments, and by animal-rights activists, who worry that a zoo not managed by the city might be less transparent when it comes to animal welfare.
Councilman Herb Wesson, who sits on the Arts, Parks, Health and Aging Committee that approved the plan, said the amended proposal will allow the city to consider the pros and cons of privatization.
"Basically, we're looking at plan A and B," Wessohttp://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/07/la-zoo-privatize-controversey.html

'Britain's fattest orangutan' Oshine loses 20kg on diet
An orangutan said to be the fattest in Britain has lost a fifth of her body weight after being put on a diet.
Oshine tipped the scales at 100kg (15 stone) - more than double her natural weight - but lost 20kg (3 stone) in 11 months after a lifestyle change.
The 14-year-old ape has cut out sweets, jelly and marshmallows, and instead tucks into a healthy diet of fruit, vegetables and plenty of exercise.
She arrived at Monkey World in Dorset last year from South Africa.
Oshine was previously kept as a pet in Johannesburg for 13 years.
'Morbidly obese'
Her sedentary and unnatural http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-14335135

Zoos must be well run
JOHOR Local Government, Housing, Arts, Culture and Heritage committee chairman Datuk Ahmad Zahri Jamil’s defence of Johor Zoo (“No reason to shut down state’s iconic park, says exco man” – The Star, July 25) is preposterous.
The zoo’s long history, low ticket prices and high number of local visitors are not indicators of the zoo’s animal welfare standards or educational value.
The recent outrage over Johor Zoo’s cruel treatment of Paloh the baby elephant is only the latest in a long string of complaints against it for animal abuse and exploitation.
As recently as 2010, Johor Zoo was openly selling wildlife in a shop within its premises, and this year the zoo made headlines again with Shirley the chain-smoking orang utan.
In May, it was reported that all wildlife establishments would have to undergo auditing under new guidelines drawn up by the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry. (“Audit on all who keep wild animals” – The Star, May 6).
This move is timely and any progress onhttp://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/7/29/focus/9196112&sec=focus

Rare rock wallabies returned to outback
Six rare rock wallabies taken from the far north-west of South Australia as joeys have returned home to the APY Lands.
A project aimed at saving the endangered species has brought together Anangu people with government agencies, zoos staff and university students.
They transferred more than 20 black-flanked rock wallaby joeys, or warru, into the pouches of surrogate yellow-footed rock wallabies.
Monarto Zoo staff kept them safe until adulthood and six of the wallabies have now been returned to the APY Lands and released into a 100-hectare predator-proof enclosure.
Matt Ward from the Environment Department said there was more to the project than saving the warru.
"It's also very much about employing Anangu http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-29/warru-wallabies-rock-apy-lands/2814080

Monkey thief jailed for a year in Ras Al Khaimah (Strange looking Monkey!)
A criminal court in Ras Al Khaimah sentenced a man for one year in prison for stealing a monkey and a parrot at gunpoint from a private zoo in the emirate, a local newspaper reported on Thursday.
The man, identified only as MR, had used a gun to force the zoo guard to hand over the monkey and the parrot before fleeing, Emirat Alyoum said.
Police later seized the man on descriptions http://www.emirates247.com/news/monkey-thief-jailed-for-a-year-in-ras-al-khaimah-2011-07-28-1.410184

Zoo's live postmortem fails to draw crowd
EDINBURGH Zoo has reportedly sold just 30 tickets for a planned live animal postmortem.
The "distasteful" show was heavily criticised by animal charities when it was announced earlier this month.
Organisers had hoped to sell 100 of the £20 tickets for the event, scheduled to take place on August 23.
Scottish animal welfare group OneKind said that the low sales were a sign of people's distaste at the initiative.
A spokesman for the group said: "It is a credit to the people of Edinburgh that they are animal lovers and they don't want to attend this type of event."
"Most people find it to be in bad taste." But chief executive of the trust that runs the zoo, Hugh Roberts, said the http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/edinburgh/Zoo39s-live-postmortem-fails-to.6808944.jp

Experts are foxed as first ever footage of urban OTTER making its home in city dock emerges
Conservationists have captured this amazing footage of a new breed of 'urban' otter which is shunning the countryside in favour of city centres.
Researchers have discovered that the usually-reclusive water creature - immortalised in Kenneth Grahame's Wind In the Willows - are encroaching into cities.
They set up hidden cameras and captured an urban otter making a home by a floating dock in the heart of Bristol city centre - just yards from a shopping mallhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2019737/Experts-foxed-footage-urban-OTTER-making-home-city-dock-emerges.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Seal scales fence to reach pup at St Andrews Aquarium
A 14 stone (90kg) harbour seal's successful attempt to overcome a metal barrier to welcome a new pup to her Fife aquarium has been caught on CCTV.
Managers at St Andrews Aquarium said they were "amazed" by Laurel's strength and tenacity to overcome a 4ft (1.2m) fence to reach the new arrival Togo.
Officials had planned to introduce the pair in a few weeks time.
However Laurel, 20, was unable to wait and 15 minutes after the park closed on Friday she broke into the other cage.
When workers arrived on Saturday they discovered Laurel was not in her enclosure and found her playing with one-year-old Togo in his new pool.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-14324444

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About Me

I have worked in the zoo world for over 48 years in the capacity of keeper, head keeper and curator. For information related to a zoos, zoo careers and more please see:
http://hubpages.com/_BL29/hub/The-Zoo-Hubs
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